Mobile phones help Boohoo’s sales

Wednesday 11 March 2015 - Veebs Sabharwal

Fashion e-tailer Boohoo.com has reported a trendy 27% jump in full year revenue, which can be accredited to a rise in mobile phone traffic. The surge is sure to please investors, since the Manchester-based company saw its shares take a 40% hit following a profit warning in January, which it suffered amid heavy discounting and unseasonably warm weather that repelled shoppers from the high street.

The firm, which listed on the London Stock Exchange last March, sources, markets and sells own-brand clothing, shoes and accessories to a core market of 16-24 year-old customers - in Britain and globally - as it states on its website. The retailer said today that mobile traffic now represents nearly half of sessions and daily unique visitors to its website. In the last quarter alone, mobile conversion has improved by over 40% and today Boohoo said that the twelve months to the end of February generated sales of £139.8m.

“We remain absolutely focussed on execution and are increasing our marketing spend in 2015-16 to drive momentum in the business,” said joint Chief Executives Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane.

“The board has considered the levels of cash in the business and will be seeking authorisation to buy back up to 10% of issued share capital to be approved at the next AGM,” they said in a statement.

Boohoo said it now has 3m active users, up 29% on the previous year, and it has put significant investment into its warehouse infrastructure and digital platforms, in response to operational issues that January saw.

In the last four years alone, the company’s headcount has grown by eightfold. A source close to the business told Retail Gazette this week that the retailer will not be focusing efforts on creating a brick-and-mortar presence in the near future, if it does, any physical stores will most likely be in Manchester.